High Expectations for Buccaneers

Published 6:00 pm, Wednesday, February 20, 2002

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) _ Jon Gruden resisted taking any parting shots at the Oakland Raiders. Instead, he focused on his future as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"I'm not shy. I don't have thin skin," he said Wednesday when asked if he was looking forward to working for "hands off" owners after spending the past four seasons under Al Davis.

`I'm going to coach with the style that I've always coached with," Gruden added, "and I welcome any input I can get from ownership."

The sons of Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer smiled. The youngest coach in the NFL kept talking.

And while he didn't make any bold predictions about winning the Super Bowl right away, the charismatic Gruden promised to approach his new job with the fervor of a champion.

Gruden said it was an easy decision to return to the city where he spent part of his childhood. He shrugged off a question about whether it's up to him to restore some of the credibility the team lost during a long, sometimes comical search for Tony Dungy's replacement.

"There's always pressure. That's the great thing about being in the NFL. You either feel pressure or you apply pressure," Gruden said. "And, hopefully with the group of players that we have assembled here, we're going to be able to apply a lot of pressure to the other team."

The Glazers lured Gruden from the Raiders on Monday with a five-year, $17.5 million deal the owners put together just hours after making a pitch for San Francisco's Steve Mariucci.

Gruden went to bed Sunday night thinking Mariucci might be close to moving to Tampa Bay as coach and general manager.

But sensing the 49ers' coach was not going to accept their offer, the Glazers called Davis and quickly worked out a deal to obtain permission to negotiate with Gruden in the middle of the night.

"I wasn't sure if it was a dream or reality," said Gruden, who was awakened at 2 a.m. "Honestly, it was a shocking turn of events … a night I'll never forget."

The Glazers feel they got the perfect fit for the Bucs _ an offensive coach for a team that thrives on defense but has had a sluggish offense. The job was especially attractive to Gruden because of family ties to Tampa.

Malcolm, Joel and Bryan Glazer joined Gruden and his wife, Cindy, at a news conference Wednesday, but did not answer questions.

One person who didn't attend was general manager Rich McKay, whose future with the team is uncertain.

The Glazers pursued Bill Parcells as Dungy's replacement without McKay's input, vetoed the GM's recommendation to hire Mavin Lewis two weeks ago and finished the search without McKay's help.

McKay, who has a year left on his contract, interviewed last week for the Atlanta Falcons' GM job.

"He's distinguished himself as a top-flight football man," Gruden said. "I'm eager to see him back with us."

With an average salary of about $3.5 million per season, Gruden will be the fourth-highest paid coach in the NFL behind Washington's Steve Spurrier ($5 million), Seattle's Mike Holmgren ($4.5 million) and Denver's Mike Shanahan ($4 million).

The price to pry Gruden from Oakland was high, too. The Raiders will receive two first-round draft picks, a pair of second-rounders and $8 million.

The coach isn't concerned that Tampa Bay paid too much.

"I don't look at that as a serious detriment," Gruden said.

"Obviously, when you lose draft picks, particularly first and second rounders, you've got to be honest and say that certainly those are four players that could have potentially helped our team. But there's a lot of vehicles to improve your football team in modern day football."

Gruden was 40-28 in four seasons with the Raiders, including a 2-2 mark in the playoffs where he led Oakland to a berth in the AFC championship game in January 2001.

One of his first orders of business will be putting together a coaching staff. The Bucs' deal with Oakland prohibits any Raiders assistants from accompanying him to Tampa Bay.

The Bucs retained their entire defensive staff when Dungy was fired. Gruden will serve as his own offensive coordinator, and Monte Kiffin likely will remain as defensive coordinator.